Award Winning and Notable Children's Books PreK - 8

A lone man arrives by boat, bargains for a horse, and traverses the meadows, forests, farmlands, villages, and cities of a European country.

A selection of Mother Goose rhymes including "Old King Cole," "Jack Be Nimble," and many other well- and lesser-known verses.

A book of creative metamorphosis and stunning visuals that will bend children's imaginations and appeal to all ages. "One of my own personal childhood favorites..." --Brian Selznick Thirteen is no ordinary picture book. It is book of visual and conceptual revolutions, metamorphoses, and narratives that swallow their own tails. In thirteen illustrated stories, plus "a preview of coming attractions," nothing less than the birth of the world, its duration, death, and rebirth occurs, in thirteen arresting and evolving tableaus, involving a sinking ship, a play, a leaf and caterpillar, a card trick, swans, a worm, Cinderella, the alphabet, paper magic, pyramids, a getting-thin-and-getting-fat-again dance, the fall and rise of civilization, and a countdown. This is not a book you read from beginning to end, so much as one you enter into, are absorbed by and transformed, like the thirteen tableaus themselves.

A most unusual and distinctive alphabet book that shows the letters as pieces of rough-grained wood and, on the opposite pages, objects beginning with that letter. An excellent introduction to art as well.

Presents a word, with English translation, for each of the twenty-four letters in the Swahili alphabet. Brief explanation of each word introduces an East African custom.

Filled with all the things a good tale should have -- from fiery dragons and savage lions to a clever princess and a handsome hero.

Mr. Gumpy lives by a river. One sunny day he decides to take a ride in his small boat. It is such a perfect idea, for such a perfect summer day, that he soon has company: first the children, then the rabbit, the cat, the dog, the pig, the sheep, the chickens, and still others until-- Mr. Gumpy's outing comes to an inevitable but not unhappy, conclusion. "Come for a ride another day," says Mr. Gumpy at the book's end.

A young boy describes the sort of town he would like to build.

On his way to hang out with the neighborhood kids, Archie very innocently greets a stray cat who follows him and gets in the way. The cat ruins everything - Archie's street show is a mess and his audience drifts away. But things aren't all bad: when Archie goes, the cat follows him all the way home, too!

The adventures of a clever donkey with a talent for waltzing.

Based on an English folk song, the story tells of Uncle Tom Cobley and his six friends who borrow an old gray mare to ride to Widecombe Fair.

A simple, beautiful introduction to math for the youngest readers Every child is a natural mathematician, according to Mitsumasa Anno. Children are constantly comparing and classifying things and events they observe around them. As they try to bring sense and order into what they observe, they are actually performing basic mathematical feats.

Artists Leo and Diane Dillon won their second consecutive Caldecott Medal for this stunning ABC of African culture. "Another virtuoso performance. . . . Such an astute blend of aesthetics and information is admirable, the child's eye will be rewarded many times over."

Simple text and illustrations describe the characteristics of the desert and its plant, animal, and human life.

A small African boy helps his father locate the right tree to make a new canoe to replace the one broken by an alligator.

A young boy resolves his disappointment with his new baby sister by becoming an older brother. 'How he changed his opinion about his sister is developed in a . . . visual and verbal paean to familial love.'

A city boy becomes angry and eventually finds a friend of his own when some children in the park refuse to let him play baseball with them

A young boy and an outrageous bear demonstrate how to ride a bicycle safely.

Through woodcut illustrations and pairs of words, youngsters are invited to experiment with storytelling.

Herman the helpful octopus is always willing to assist anyone who needs his help--old or young, friend or enemy.

Text and twenty color paintings depict the rigors and simple pleasures of winter on the prairies during the stark 1930's.

Retells a Congolese tale in which an ugly and unloved twin discovers a magic tree that gives him everything he wants.

"As Sue drives her jalopy she encounters any number of creatures that say any number of things, but the chitter-chatter mystery sends them running for cover. And then there's that moral..." Cumulative verse reveals the sounds made by various animals, but who said chitter-chitter-chatter?

First published in 1971, this nursery rhyme is given new dimensions by swirling illustrations.

An Indian girl insults the moon and is held prisoner by him until her friend reaches the sky country to rescue her.

Early each night the fireflies come out to dance. They twinkle and glow and flash secret messages to each other. Together they make a thousand chandeliers. All except Torchy. When he turns on his light it suddenly becomes as bright as day. Thinking that it's morning, baby birds cry out to be fed and earthworms scramble for cover. Torchy's bright light ruins the fireflies' fun and all the forest animals are angry with him for disturbing their sleep. Torchy goes off to be alone and, in the course of his adventures, discovers that there are all kinds of lights in the world.

Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the "spider man," are called, "Spider Stories." This book is about how that came to be. The African storyteller begins: "We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go." And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see. How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.

This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires, depending on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, which involves blizzards, burglaries, and bombings. Ellen Raskin has entangled a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.

"I can't remember when Barney's story began but all my life I'd heard this story about how a little girl and her father were going to hit it big one of these days....I knew more about race horses than I knew about myself -- I mean myself as a Chinese." Race horses aren't any help when Barney lands in the hospital and Casey is sent to live with Paw-Paw -- her maternal grandmother-in San Francisco's Chinatown. She's not prepared for the Chinese school, the crowds, the noise, the small room she has to share with Paw-Paw -- and she's not prepared for missing Barney. But Paw-Paw tells Casey about Jeanie, the mother Casey never knew, about her true Chinese name, and about the story of the family's owl charm. This shows Casey that being a child of the owl means that sometimes, like this ancestral owl spirit, you can feel like a stranger, trapped in the wrong place, in the wrong time, even in the wrong body. And as Casey begins to understand the intricacies of Chinatown and the people who become her friends, she realizes that this, Paw-Paw's home, Jeanie and Barney's home, is her home too.

The recent heir to her grandmother's house, a young girl rents it for the summer to a professor and a group of students whose long, abstract, philosophical discussions become meaningful to her as the summer wears on.

A thirteen-year-old German girl who is traveling to Cologne with returning evacuees helps an old man fulfill a promise to his dead wife.

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift-- that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight.

Long before the time of chivalrous knights, fair ladies, and turreted castles, Tristan defeats Ireland's champion warrior and gains the friendship of his uncle, the King of Cornwall, who entrusts him with a very special mission: to sail the seas in search of a queen.

A young girl with ambitions to be a writer tries to adjust to her widowed mother's remarriage.

The life of a sixteen-year-old English boy begins to change when a stranger claiming to be a relative appears in the village.

With the perfect mix of humor and warmth, Ramona Quimby shines as a spirited girl with her heart set on helping. Seven-year-old Ramona world is turned upside-down when her father unexpectedly loses his job. Things grow tense in the Quimby house, but Ramona resolves to help in any way she can--even downsizing her Christmas list. But with bills piling up and her parents constantly stressed, Ramona wonders if life will ever go back to normal.

Anpao is young and Handsome and Brave - a man any maiden would be proud to call her husband. Any maiden but Ko-Ko-Mik-e-is, that is, who calims she belongs to the Sun alone. And so Anpao sets off for the house of the Sun to ask permission to marry the woman he loves. But Anpao's journey is not an easy one. Before he can reach the Sun, Anapao must travel back in time to the dawn of the world. He must relive his own creation, venture through The World Beneath the World, and battle the many magical mystical creatures of Native American legends. For only by doing so can Anpao discover who he really is, and rove to the Sun why he alone is worthy of the fair Ko-komik-e-is.

It's 1944 in New York City. Alan Silverman doesn't want to give up his stickball game for anyone-especially not for crazy-acting Naomi Kirshenbaum. But when he hears about her horrifying experience during the war in France, Alan changes his mind. Slowly, he struggles to befriend her, and one day-miraculously-she begins to trust him. Alan finds she is not only intelligent, but also fun to be with. But the scars of war are still very much with Naomi.

It begins in 10th Century England, and tells the tale of an orphaned child of a Celtic father and Saxon mother, who is caught up with the Vikings and ultimately journeys all the way to Constantinople via the Dnieper trading route. The plot is driven by the acceptance of a blood feud commitment, and the struggles of a child born between many cultures to reconcile his beliefs with this commitment.

Set in Mississippi at the height of the Depression, this is the story of one family's struggle to maintain their integrity, pride, and independence in the face of racism and social injustice. And it is also Cassie's story--Cassie Logan, an independent girl who discovers over the course of an important year why having land of their own is so crucial to the Logan family, even as she learns to draw strength from her own sense of dignity and self-respect.

It's 1940, and Britain is at war. Young Chas McGill has the second-best collection of war souvenirs in town, but desperately wants it to be the best. Amidst the bombs and air raids, Chas and his friends plan their own war effort in their newly built bunker. Friendships are forged and loyalties tested, in the adventure of a lifetime.

Unhappy over his mother's recent death and the family's move to Wales, Peter Morgan is drawn into the sixth-century period of Taliesin by the tuning key of an ancient harp.

When Finn Learson literally stumbles out of a stormy sea into a small village on Scotland's Shetland Isles, he steals the villagers' hearts. He's handsome and charming, he helps with the fishing and the harvest, and he's particularly drawn to Robbie's older sister Elspeth, with her beautiful long golden hair. Yet there's something about Finn that makes Robbie and his dog Tam feel uneasy. Haunted by local tales of the Selkie folk, Robbie suspects there's more to Finn than meets the eye. But who would believe Robbie's wild suspicions? As the story reaches its explosive finale at the fire festival of Up Helly Aa, can Robbie reveal the truth in time to save his sister?

Moon Shadow was eight when he sailed from China to join his father Windrider in America. Windrider lived in San Francisco's Chinatown and worked in a laundry. Moon Shadow had never seen him. But he soon loved and respected this father, a man of genius, a man with a fabulous dream. And with Moon Shadow's help, Windrider was willing to endure the mockery of the other Chinese, the poverty, and the longing for his wife and his own country to make his dream come true. Inspired by the account of a Chinese immigrant who made a flying machine in 1909, Laurence Yep's historical novel beautifully portrays the rich traditions of the Chinese community as it made its way in a hostile new world.

Michael's love for his great-great-aunt who lives with them leads him to intercede with his mother who wants to toss out all her old things.

Everyone knows about Paul Revere's midnight ride. But not everyone knows the harrowing details and narrow escapes that occurred along the way. This timeless and witty book highlights little-known facts about patriot Paul Revere.

Following her father's death, a sixteen-year-old English girl spends an unsettling summer convinced that she has lived before as Emily Bronte.

Abused by his grandfather and neglected by his mother, a "tough" thirteen-year-old sees running away as the only solution to changing his life until a friend open his eyes to an alternative.

Magician Stephanus knew he shouldn't have given in to his cat, Lionel-but now a strangely tawny-haired, green-eyed young man is on his way to Brightford town to see what it's like to be human. Lionel finds Brightford full of rogues and villains eager to cheat him-but he also meets the good, beautiful innkeeper, Mistress Gillian. Life as a human is full of adventure, danger, and emotion. How will Lionel ever fulfill his promise to his master to return and once again be a cat?

Happy on the Outer Hebrides, eleven-year-old Mairi has no desire to leave when her family situation changes and takes her to new places.

The day they were sent home early from school because of a threatening blizzard, Amy rode with the other pupils in Mrs. Rhys's van to where the road ended, but from there she had to trudge by herself through the driving snowflakes to the Gwyntfa, the gray stone cottage where she lived alone with her grandmother, Mrs. Bowen. Once home, Amy knew she was safe.

Three young people in seventeenth-century England maintain their close friendship despite their political and religious differences, the tragedy of the Great Plague, and the two boys' rivalry for the girl's love.

In the early 1900's in Baltimore a middle class black child has a difficult struggle regaining the comfortable life she knew before her parents were killed.

Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service.

'Set in the Appalachian hills, the story -- narrated by 14-year-old Mary Call -- tells of her efforts to keep her family together and independent after their sharecropper father dies. . . .

The memoirs of a German girl who became a leader among the Hitler Youth while her Social Democratic family kept from her the secret of her partial Jewish heritage.

A collection of anecdotes, stories, facts, and activities relating to chance, luck, magic, witchcraft, and fortune-telling.

Traces the earliest contacts between the United States and China from the years following the American Revolution until the advent of the steamship.

A history of the Indians who have lived in the American Southwest from the Ice Age to the present day, told from their point of view.

The word itself conjures up mystery, romance, intrigue, and grandeur. What could be more perfect for an author/illustrator who has continually stripped away the mystique of architectural structures that have long fascinated modern man? With typical zest and wry sense of humor punctuating his drawings, David Macaulay traces the step-by-step planning and construction of both castle and town.

Describes the field work of three female primatologists and what their studies have revealed about the behavioral patterns of chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans in their natural habitat.

The life story of William Wells Brown tells how he escaped from slavery and educated himself in order to fight for the freedom of others through his writings, lectures, and travel throughout the United States and England.

Everyone knows that John Hancock was one of the first signers of the Declaration of Independence. But not many know that he signed his name so large to show how mad he was about how the colonists had been treated.

Through concise text and richly detailed black and white illustrations we come to know the philosophy of life and death in ancient Egypt.

Six million-- a number impossible to visualize. Six million Jews were killed in Europe between the years 1933 and 1945. What can that number mean to us today? We can that number mean to us today? We are told never to forget the Holocaust, but how can we remember something so incomprehensible? We can think, not of the numbers, the statistics, but of the people. For the families torn apart, watching mothers, fathers, children disappear or be slaughtered, the numbers were agonizingly comprehensible. One. Two. Three. Often more. Here are the stories of thode people, recorded in letters and diaries, and in the memories of those who survived. Seen through their eyes, the horror becomes real. We cannot deny it--and we can never forget. 'Based on diaries, letters, songs, and history books, a moving account of Jewish suffering in Nazi Germany before and during World War II.